Saturday, July 20, 2013

Sparkly Shirt Magic

Today I'm digging deeper into the special occasions box, and I'm sure glad I did, because I found one of my favorite (albeit wrinkly) garments of all time. That's right, folks: of all time.*

When I found this shirt, appropriately in the "special occasion" section of Nordstrom, I had one of those little indrawn breath moments, followed by a happy puff of exhalation and delight. It is the first time I thought to use the word "confection" to describe a piece of clothing, but it seemed to fit: airy, translucent silk that felt as delicate and immaterial as spun sugar.

I was a training athlete, weighing two stone more than I do now, most of it muscle. If anyone told me back then there was a shirt that would make me feel light and magical, I would have scoffed, then probably threatened to arm wrestle.

Now that I look at it with more self-awareness of my personal style, it's no surprise I loved it. It has all of the usual Aya elements that show up over and over in my clothes: fluttery impractical sleeves, curving hem, corset-shape, even a shirt shell! Good find, 20s me!

I thought for an 'evening out' look I could wear it with dark wash jeans and a pair of low-heeled sandals. That's a thing, right? I totally think that's a thing I have heard of. Only instead of an evening out, it's a spinster day in, playing with bicyclic compound models and looking at reaction mechanisms. Crazy thing is, I can't even complain. I'm enjoying the subject material. :D

Here are my shoes. I bought them for my friend Meghan's wedding. I thought I should wear some nice shoes, even if only out on my balcony.

You can see how accustomed I am to wearing narrow heels. Graceful!

And here is a selfie I took when trying to get a closeup of the beadwork. Turned out odd because of the light difference indoors/outdoors, but I decided I like it.

*And to demonstrate how much personal opinion can fluctuate, my mother finds it merely 'meh.'

LOVE LOVE LOVE that top ... it is exactly what I would buy for myself.

I really dislike (actually hate) that word 'meh'... my son uses it a lot and he knows that it irritates me!!! Either it's good or bad or you like or dislike it ... 'meh' is a cop out! Excuse the little rant!

I understand using 'meh' because there are some things that I don't hate; there's nothing wrong with them. And yet I don't have any particular fondness for them either. That said, it's pretty crappy to say it about something someone's excited about. I don't at all understand a 'meh' to that shirt, though. It is fantastic!

Oh no! I fear I've engaged in inadvertent character assassination of my mother. I was paraphrasing. If I recall, she said, "... it's okaaay?" then after watching me jumping up and down with glee for a few seconds, said, "If you like it, you should buy it."

My mother and brother always give the sideeye to the clothes that make me excited, but follow it up with, "You should dress how you like. We're glad you are developing your own sense of fashion." Hahaha. I could not ask for more.